Broody without Laying Her Own?

[Alycia]

My adorable little Silkie/Onagadori pullet, almost year old in April, has gone broody! It's soooo adorable! She made her own little nest and is sooo good about getting up and drinking, eating, etc without even being encouraged. I am so proud of her; she is like my child. I raised her from an egg. However, when I checked her, last week. . .she had no eggs, lol. She was just hopelessly laying on a nest without eggs. So, when my other hen (a Maran) laid an egg, I gave it to her, hoping it would be fertile for her, and most likely is, not to be gross or anything. However, the next day, she laid one of her own, and then. . .stole that Maran's other egg :O. I don't know how it happened, if she somehow carried it to her own nest, or if the Maran laid it in my little girl's nest, but yeah, just adorable! Two big brown eggs and a small white, somewhat speckled one, all being taken care of by my hopeful little mommy

. She's so sweet. Hopefully, she'll get to have her chickies. But, I was just curious to know if it's normal for her to go broody for the days she did before I even gave her an egg and she laid her own? She's not a very good layer, either. In the time I've had her -- she's laid a total of 4 eggs. The one she's laying on is her 4th. I figure that's normal for the Onagadori breed.

She also had a devoted mate, which is even more adorable, that would sleep at her side every night, and protected her. He was a mutt, and soo goregous. He looked a little bit like a Belgian D'Uccle mix, so I can just imagine what A Silkie/Onagadori mixed with that will look like! Aww. Sadly, he passed away after she laid her egg

.

 

[katrinag]

Sound like she is destin(sp?) to be a good mommy.

 

[dancingbear]

Alycia, if an egg is fertile, it's fertile, it doesn't matter which hen sits on it. You might want to save up eggs for a few days, keep them at room temp, until you have a dozen, (or however many she can easily cover so they ones on the outside edge don't get cold) then let her have them all at once. Mark them with a black sharpie so you know which ones they are, so if she steals more from others, or others lay in her nest, you can remove the newer eggs. That way they hatch pretty much together, and you won't have a bunch of partly developed eggs left to die after the first chicks hatch.